Calvin Harris, children ask for public's help

Mar. 6, 2014

Written by

Calvin Harris and his four children had a news conference Wednesday in Owego to announce they are seeking new evidence in the 2001 disappearance of Michele Harris. / KRISTOPHER RADDER / Staff Photo

TIP LINE

Calvin Harris and his children are asking the public to call a confidential tip line at (607) 215-5166 if they have information about Michele Harris’ disappearance. Seven calls were made to the line between the time the number became public Monday, and Wednesday’s news conference, said former New York City detective Jay Salpeter. Calvin Harris’ defense team also has set up a website at freecalharris.org.

More

ADVERTISEMENT

OWEGO — At an emotionally wrought news conference Wednesday afternoon, Calvin Harris and his four children pleaded for the public’s help in investigating the 2001 disappearance of his wife, Michele.

The news conference, held at the Owego Treadway Inn & Conference Center, marked the first public media appearance by the children of Michele and Calvin Harris in relation to the case.

“As I have stated before, from day one, I did not have any involvement in Michele’s disappearance,” Calvin Harris said, taking a break as he and his children began to cry. “I would never hurt the mother of my children, and I would never do anything to hurt them.”

Calvin Harris, 52, was first convicted in 2007 of murdering his wife, Michele, 35, who prosecutors say disappeared sometime between the night of Sept. 11, 2001, and the next morning. Neither a weapon nor her body has been found.

A second conviction, in 2009, was overturned on appeal. Calvin Harris has been free on bail since October 2012, after the state Court of Appeals found legal errors in his second trial. A third trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 3 in Schoharie County.

Daughter Cayla Harris, 18, read a statement Wednesday asking for anyone with new information about her mother’s disappearance to call a confidential tip line at (607) 215-5166.

Cayla Harris said her brothers and sisters were much younger then, and their father did everything he could to help shield them from what was going on and to keep their lives as normal as possible.

“Now we are old enough to understand what’s going on, and cannot sit here in silence and watch another travesty of justice take place,” she said. “We need to know what really happened to our mother. We know our dad had nothing to do with her disappearance.”

Tioga County District Attorney Kirk Martin did not respond Wednesday to messages requesting comment.

Cayla Harris said the idea for Wednesday’s news conference came from her and the defense lawyers, and her father played no role in organizing it.

About 30 people attended the news conference, including members of the media and Harris family supporters.

A podium was flanked by two large posters displaying pictures of Calvin and Michele Harris’ four children. The posters read: “13 years after Michele Harris disappeared ... Her kids want answers.”

Bruce Barket, Calvin Harris’ defense attorney, said he and a team of investigators with experience in wrongful-conviction cases have been looking into Michele Harris’ disappearance for about a year. He estimated they have spent more than 1,000 hours on the case so far.

“He’s literally spending his last dollars to try to figure out what actually happened to Michele Harris,” he said of Calvin Harris. “We’ve spent the last year doing that, and we’ve actually made significant progress.”

Barket said the defense has focused its independent investigation on “a small group of individuals,” but he declined to name them. He said the tip line is being established in hopes of gathering information from people who have been hesitant to share all they know.

“There have been a couple witnesses that we’ve spoken to that gave us a few sentences to let us know that they know something, and then literally closed the door in our face and refused to speak with us,” he said.

Barket said at the news conference that Calvin Harris hadn’t come forward to ask for the public’s help before Wednesday because “the job of individuals is not to solve crimes.”

“He did what anybody would do when they’re charged with a crime,” Barket said. “They hire a defense attorney — he’s hired two in the past to represent him and defend the criminal case. That hasn’t resulted in any justice at all. So he brought us in in an attempt to do, really, what the police should be doing: solving the case, investigating other individuals and doing this (news conference).”

The trial scheduled to begin in September also would include a new prosecutor.

Martin took office in January after winning an election to replace former district attorney Gerald Keene, who prosecuted Harris at the 2007 and 2009 trials, and is now Tioga County judge.

Barket said he’s hopeful Martin will be open to reviewing new evidence.

“He’s taking a look at it the first time, much the same way I did a year ago,” Barket said. “And if we develop the information that we seem to be developing, and it ripens, we certainly will bring it to him and ask him to take a look at these individuals.”

Former New York City detective Jay Salpeter, and former Long Island prosecutor and police officer Peter S. Smith also spoke on Calvin Harris’ behalf during Wednesday’s news conference.

“We’ve investigated the case for a year. We’ve reviewed the police work, and there are more good things to come,” Salpeter said.